Rockford Fire Dept. given international accredidation

The Rockford Fire Department has received Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) for meeting the criteria established through the CFAI’s voluntary self-assessment and accreditation program. The department is one of over 200 agencies to achieve the Internationally Accredited Agency status with the CFAI and under the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Inc. (CPSE).

CFAI is dedicated to assisting the fire and emergency service agencies throughout the world in achieving excellence through self-assessment and accreditation in order to provide continuous quality improvement and the enhancement of service delivery to their communities. The CFAI process is voluntary, and provides an agency with an improvement model to assess their service delivery and performance internally, and then works with a team of peers from other agencies to evaluate their completed self-assessment.

In a letter of support sent to the CFAI commissioners, Mayor Larry Morrissey noted that the fire department has always focused on results and that the level of detail, analysis and ongoing examination of the department against national best practices has helped it to further improve and enhance operations.

“The agency’s achievement of Accredited status demonstrates the commitment of the Rockford Fire Department to provide the highest quality of service to our community,” stated Chief Derek Bergsten. “We have also been able to use the commission on Fire Accreditation International’s process as a proactive mechanism to plan for the future of this agency and locate where we can improve the quality of services provided, which resulted in a new location and station on Marchesano Drive in 2015.”

Bergsten concludes, “The most important reason for the success of the reaccreditation is the dedicated men and woman who serve the citizens of the city of Rockford on a daily basis and strive to deliver the best service possible. I would like to thank each and every member of the Rockford Fire Department.”